Web-printing and folding machine



June 10, 1924.- 1,497,560

B.JJ.GOULMNG WEB PRINTING AND FOLDING MACHINE Filed June 24, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 10, 1924. 1,497,560

B. J. J. GOULDING WEB PRINTING AND FOLDING MACHINE Filed June 24, 19:52 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnvemmf 3/ My i 25 twelve or sixteen "Patented June 10, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrice.

BENJAMIN JOSEPH JOHN GOULDING, OF ALTRINCHAM, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T LING- TYPE AND IACHIN'ERY IJMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, A BRITISH COMPANY.

WEB-PRINTING AND rommm madame.

Application filed June 24, 1922. Serial 100. 510,710.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN Josnrn Join: GOULDING, a subject of the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at Linotype and Machinery Works, Altrlncham, in the county of Chester, England, have invented new and useful Im rovements in or Relating to Web-Printing and Folding Machines, of which the followin is a specification.

This invention re ates to web-printing and folding machines of the known type in which the printing elements are in the form of practically independent units arranged in alignment and all cooperating with one or more folders.

Heretofore the folders have always borne a fixed relationship to the Idnting units and, as a consequence thereof. these machines have not been capable of use to the best advantage. To demonstrate the crustence of such an inefficiency, let it be assumed that a certain newspaper-printing plant is required to produce issues of four, e1 ht,

ages. For such a p ant there would usual y be installed four fourpage printing units in two pairs or sets, and two folders intermediate such sets and one serving each such set.

For convenience of description the ]ustnamed printing units are herein identified by the letters A, B, C and D, the respect1ve sets by the letters A B, and C D, and the folders b the letters B and C respectivelv, an it is assumed that the rate of production of each unit is 30,000 per hour.

As is well known, with an arrangement such as that hereinbefore selected asan exam le, it is convenient to print a) four page newspapers by employing for an output of 30,000 per hour, the unit A or B with its respective folder B or the unit C or D with its respective folder C, or for an output of 60,000 per hour both an A or B unit and a C or D unit together with both folders B C.

(b) eight page newspapers by employing for an output of 30,000 per hour, either the set A B with its respective folder B or the set C D with its respective folder 0, or for an output of 60,000 per hour all the units as sets A B and C D respectively, together with the respective folders B C.

(a) twelve page newspapers at the rate of 30,000 per hour, by employing three units say A, B and C and a single folder say B and (d) sixteen page newspapers at the rate of 30,000 per hour, by employing all four of the units A, B, C and D and one or other of the folders B C.

It will thus be seen that when printing by the system (a) while the maximum hourly out ut is 60,000, there are two units standing i e;

(b) the maximum hourly output of eight page newspapers is 60,000 with all units and folders employed;

(0) the maximum hourly output of twelve page newspapers is 30,000 and that one unit and one folder are standing idle, and

(d) while the maximum hourly output of sixteen page newspapers is 30,000 per hour, there is one of the folders standing idle.

The object of the present invention is to provide printing installations which will afford a maximum of elasticity in their 0 eration and enable such operation to e carried out to the best economic advantage.

In the abstract the invention may be said to consist in so arranging printing units and folders as to admit of one being adjusted relatively to the other so that at no time need any of them be idle or uneconomically employed. The invention will now be described by reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings which, as an example, illustrate an installation comprising a battery of four printing units and three folders; in these drawings Figure l is a front elevation of said installation, and

Figure 2 is a view, of which the 1eft-hand part is an end elevation of Figure 1, and the right-hand part is an end elevation of a second battery of printing units ranged parallel with that shown in Figure 1 and comprising any desired number of such units with which latter one or more of the folders appertaining to the first battery can be brought into co-o erative relationship as shown in dot-and-diish lines.

In the constructional form of the invention represented in the drawings, the four printing units A, B, C, D, are located in fixed relationshi on the rinting ofiioe floor 1 through whic pass the webs from the reels 2 suitably mounted below.

A the four units A, B,

Extending longitudinally over the printing units there is provided an elevated track 3 along which the three folders A, B C are suitably guided and on whlch they can be moved to, and locked in, any desired position, the said folders, for this purpose, being provided with spur plmons 4 engaging with racks 5 and capable of being rotated by crank handles 6 fast to the shafts 7 on which the said pinions are rigidly secured.

With such an arran ement and with all D, employed conjointly with the folders A, B, G, four page newspaper can be produced at the total rate of 60,000 per hour say by the units A, B and folders A B and eight-page newspapers can be produced at the rate of 30,000

or hour by the units 0, D operating conointly with the folder C or the two adjacent units working as pairs A B and C D each co-o crating with a single folder say A and E respectively, can be used for producing eight-page newspapers at a total rate of 60,000 per hour while the remaimng folder C not then necessary in this connection can, as shown in dot-and-dash lines,

be brought into co-operation with a printing unit E of the before-mentioned second battery of which only this unit E 1s represented; for the last-named reason the reference letter E is hereinafter employed for identifying the said second battery whenever said battery is directly referred to as such. Any three adjacent units A, B, C conjointly with a single folder say A, can be used for producing twelve-page newspapers at a rate of 30,000 per hour, while the remaining unit say D conjointly with say folder B is employed in producing four-page newspapers at a corresponding rate of 30,000 per hour, and the remaining folder (0) can be economically utilized in conjunction with one of the units of the battery E.

For enabling the folder C to be moved into co-operation alternatively with the printing units D and E, this folder as shown in dot-anddash lines in Figure 1, is provided with a spur pinion 8 engaging with a rack 9 extending perpendicularly to the racks 5, which pinion, when rotated by a crank handle 10, serves to traverse the said folder along transverse tracks 11 connecting the before described tracks 5 with the tracks 12 appertaining to the battery E, all as clearly indicated in Figure 2.

- From the foregoing it will be seen that at no time need any of the printing units remain idle and that when they are to be worked in multiple, the respective folder can be adjusted to the position which will best suit the working conditions. At any time at which all of the folders are not required for the above exemplified arrangement, they can, as hereinbefore explained,

be moved along the track into co-operation with printin units of such other machines as may not ave as many folders as there are units, or they may even be allowed to remain idle without incurring so much loss as would be involved were the more expensive printing units themselves so allowed to remain idle.

Another considerable advantage arising out of the present invention as com ared with existing installations, is a reduction of the occupied floor space due to the location of the folders above, and the reels, below the printing units, and, in this connection it is to be observed that a like saving of floor space would be secured by a reversal of this arrangement, that is to say with the folders below and the reels 2 above the printing units.'

Having described my invention, I declare that what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with a plurality of web-printing units and a folder, of means whereby the folder can be moved as a complete entity to bring it alternatively into operative relationship with one or other of the printing units.

2. The combination with a plurality of web-printing units and a folder, of tracks along which the folder can be moved to bring it into operative relationship to different printing units.

3. The combination with a plurality of webprinting units in permanently fixed mutual relationship all at the same level, of means for supplying the web from reels and a folder movable as a complete entity into operative relationship to different printin units, the said supply means and the folder being respectively at levels differing from each other and differing from that of the printing units. V 4. The combination with a plurality of web-printing units in permanently fixed mutual relationship, of means for supplying the web from reels situated below said units, and a folder located above the printing units and movable as a complete entity into operative relationship to different printing units.

5. The combination with a pluralit of web-printing units in permanently xed mutual relatonship, of means for supplying the web from reels situated below said units, and a smaller plurality of folders located above the printing units, the folders being movable, each as a complete entity, to bring them into operative relationship to difi'erent printing units.

6. The combination with a plurality of web-printing units in permanently fixed mutual relationship all at the same level, of means for sup lying the web from reels and a plurality o folders movable, each as a complete entity, to bring them into operative relationship to different printing units, the

said supply means and the folders being respectively at levels differing from each other and differing from that of the printing units.

7. The combination with a plurality of web-printing units and a folder, of tracks along which the folder can be moved to bring it into operative relationshp to different printing units, and rack and pinion mechanism for moving the folder along said tracks.

8. The combination with a plurality of batteries of printing units arranged in 16 In testimony whereof I have afiixed my 80 signature hereto.

BENJAMIN JOSEPH JOHN GOULDING. 

